Nightmare Revisited
by JoeB1451
Summary: Lighting might not strike the same place twice, but it can come dang close.
1. Chapter 1

Nightmare Revisited Normal 2 1914 2008-10-28T02:45:00Z 2008-10-28T02:45:00Z 35 11162 63624 530 127 78134 9.2720

Nightmare Revisited

Disclaimer:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Mutant Enemy.  Stargate belongs to MGM productions. I make no profit other than having a good time.

Author's Note: This is mainly a stand-alone. I have a couple of small stories plotted to fill in some plot holes.  I invite anyone who wishes to write in this universe to feel free to do so.

Spoilers: Buffy to end of series.  SG1 to beginning of season 3

Chapter One

Angel sat behind his desk brooding.  He was wearing his trademark duster, black shirt, black pants.  _Buffy didn't trust him anymore._  She had sent a Watcher-in-training and a small army of Slayers to recover one of their own because she didn't trust him anymore.  He remembered when he met her in the graveyard last year and said she would let him know when she had done baking.  Well she had obviously finished and he wasn't going to get a taste.

A folder landed on his desk in front of him.  Eve, the presumably evil assistant that Wolfram&Hart had provided for him when he took over their LA branch, was standing there with a much too innocent expression on her face.

"What's this?" Angel asked her.

"It's a file on Buffy Summers that the firm made up when she was in LA after sending you to hell.  The firm wanted to see if there was anything they could do with her since she seemed to be on the outs with the Council."

"Why didn't they?"  Angel asked as he opened up the file.

"It was decided there was too much risk for too little gain. She wasn't operating as the Slayer and there was some debate if Buffy died again whether it would spawn yet another Slayer.  It was decided that as long as she remained in retirement she would be ignored."

"And you know this how?" Angel asked suspiciously.

"I can read.  The summary of the project is on the first page.  The interesting stuff is on the back one though."   Eve replied as she eased herself into a chair. Angel pulled out the first sheet and started reading.  "As part of the preliminary study they broke into Ms. Summers' apartment and managed to collect some hair for DNA for evaluation.  While they weren't able to separate the essence of Slayer they did find out something interesting.  As part of the project they had collected DNA from her parents for comparison study, to see if they could figure out what about them created a Slayer."

Angel pulled the last page out and read the results of that test.  His eyes came up from behind the report and met his brown haired assistant's.  "Simply put, Hank Summers is not Buffy's biological father.  I think pointing that out to her would earn you some brownie points.  Plus, I looked over Colonel Jonathan O'Neill, USAF. I'd rather have him for a dad any day.  If you hurry you can probably catch that Andrew creature before he leaves for London."

 Later, Eve entered her office and locked the door.  Making sure the wards were in place she lifted the receiver of the phone and dialed.  When the other end picked up she simply said, "It's done."

The entity on the other end of the phone smiled.  Turning to an assistant he said, "Contact Lord Apophis and tell him that what he wished has begun.  Arrange for the delivery of the naquadah.  Remind him that if this is successful, then we are to receive a second equal shipment.  Once you have confirmed delivery then contact Senator Kinsey and inform him his order is in." 

Chapter 2

Buffy was going through a series of katas when Andrew entered the training room.  She noticed him at once but finished the pattern.  Andrew patiently waited for her to get done.  Truthfully, he would have been happy if she kept practicing forever.  He didn't know how she would react to the information he had.

Andrew had decided while flying back to Scotland with Dana, the insane Slayer he had taken from Angel, that he wasn't going to just hand the information Angel had given him off to her with out knowing what was in it. So, he had opened it up and read it.  His first instinct was to take it back to the lavatory on the plane and throw it in.  Instead he decided to try to find out what he could about this guy she was supposed to be related too. 

"What's that?"  Buffy said as she threw a towel around her shoulders and began to stretch so that her muscles didn't stiffen up.  The one thing you never wanted to get, ever, as a Slayer, was a Charlie horse.

"Angel gave it to me to give to you," Andrew nervously explained.

"So it's open why?"  Buffy asked, seeing the open flap.

Andrew backed off a couple of steps toward the door to the gym and stuttered, "I didn't think it would be a good idea to just give it to you because it came from Wolfram and Hart, and if it was a trap, it would have been better for me to get caught in it than you so…"

"You got board on the flight and decided to let your curiosity get the better of you," Buffy finished with disgust.  "What's in it?" She asked, at least Andrew had saved her the trouble of going through it.

"Your fathers name," Andrew said.

Buffy cocked an eyebrow at him and said, "Think I already knew that one."

"No, no," Andrew said excitedly, "your real father!"

Buffy bounced over to where Andrew was standing and grabbed the packet out of his hand.  She pulled the papers out and started scanning them, mostly ignored the charts and graphs, starting to read when she got to the text written pages. She found what she was looking for about a third of the way down the pile.  She scanned that page quickly, "Did you look this guy up?"  She asked the cowering Watcher-in-training.  "Relax, I'm not going to hit you!"

"He's a Colonel in the Air Force, he's stationed in Colorado Springs, he's divorced, he had a son, but he was killed a couple of years ago," Andrew explained.

"How did he die?"  Buffy asked, disturbed that she may have just found and lost a half brother in the space of five seconds.

"Firearm accident in the home.  Your dad was divorced about a year later," Andrew said sympathetically. 

"I couldn't get any deeper without using some serious mojo," he finished and let out a sigh of relief that he wasn't going to get mangled.

"Willow is deep in the Amazon jungle right now.  I don't want to disturb her," Buffy thought on it for a couple of seconds.  "Come on, Dawn is on break so we'll pick her up and then we'll head to London.  We'll see what Giles can find on Colonel O'Neill and then off to Colorado!"

Chapter 3

Jack O'Neill knew he was getting old; he used to be able to hold more beer before a need to visit the facilities.  He was just heading back to the party going on in the back of the house celebrating the signing of the treaty that included the Earth in the Asgard's Protected Planets treaty.  Most of the off duty staff were here and even Jacob Carter had managed to come in to join the celebration.  Jack was just cutting across his living room when the doorbell rang.  He turned around and headed to his front door.  Opening it he found a short blonde, and a taller brunette on the stoop. Both were dressed nicely, but not formally, in jackets and pants.  The shorter blonde was wearing a light blue jacket and black pants, and with the taller brunette in a jeans jacket with black pants.    "Can I help you?"  He asked politely.

"Colonel Jonathan O'Neill?" the blonde asked.

"I usually go by Jack, but yeah," O'Neill answered.

"Can we come in for a couple of minutes? We have something we need to discuss with you."

Jack was annoyed, he had no interest in what ever these girls were selling and was about to decline till he took a good look at the girls and something in her eyes convinced him she wasn't selling anything, " I'm having a barbecue, is this going to take a long time?"

"If this is a bad time we can come back," the blonde said.

Jack considered it, but decided he wouldn't be able to enjoy the party if he was wondering what the two girls wanted sooo, "No that's okay come on in, can I get you a beer?"

The brunette looked like she was going to say yes when the blonde said, "Dawn we're back in the States, the age here is 21."

"Got a diet coke?" The brunette asked.

"Sure," Jake said, "And you are???"

The blonde flushed, "Sorry, I'm Buffy Summers, this is my sister Dawn, and I don't want anything to drink."

"Goodtomeetyou," Jack said as he lead them into the living room and then went to get Dawn her drink.

Dawn and Buffy looked around the homey room.  Over the mantel was a frame that had a number of medals and ribbons in it.  "Wow," Dawn said as she looked them over, "he sure has a lot of them."

Buffy nodded wishing she knew what medal was which.  She didn't want to gush over them if they were the equivalent of being the best garbage can scrubber.  A picture on the mantel caught her eye though.  It was a younger Jack O'Neill with what looked like a nine or ten-year-old boy wearing a grass stained soccer uniform.  Both were smiling at the camera with O'Neill's arm around him.

Jack came back in with a bottle of Diet Coke and a plastic cup with ice in it.  "Thanks," Dawn said as she took them from him and poured herself a drink.

"Now what can I help you with?" He asked.

Buffy reached into her purse and noticed that Jack tensed.  Moving slowly she pulled the file packet out of it and handed it to him.  She had tried to come up with someway to tell him and she just couldn't come up with one that worked for her so she decided she'd hand it to him and let him read it himself.

Jack took the package and curiously opened it.  The chart on the first page caught his eye.  He checked the date on it too make sure.  It was a DNA test that he had taken when Teal'c had been bitten by that bug.  They all had to make sure that they hadn't been infected.  He looked up at Buffy and asked, "Where did you get this?"

"It was given to an associate and I decided that I needed to check it out.  We can make arrangements if you want."

Jack's mind was racing, the vibes that he was getting from her suggested that she had no idea what she had just handed him. But, a good poker face was minimum prerequisite for the intelligence biz.  He decided that he needed to make sure this was what he thought it was before he went farther.

"I have a friend here who can read these things, do you mind if I show it to her?"  Jack requested.

Buffy shrugged, "No, what ever you need to do, do.  But we really need to talk about it."

Jack nodded as he took the chart and headed for the back yard.

Spotting Dr. Janet Fraiser, the Chief Medical Officer of the SGC talking to Major Samantha Carter, his 2IC on SG1 he headed toward them.

Janet saw him coming and asked, "Was that Cassie at the door?  She was going to the mall with some friends, but she said she was coming here after."

Jack shook his head, "No, it was the Sisters Summers, and they came bearing this.  Please tell me that this is not what I think it is."

Janet looked at the proffered piece of paper and frowned, "This is one of your DNA scans.  How did they get it?"

"I don't know, but I think we need to find out."  Jack scanned the crowd and spotted General George Hammond the CO of the SGC talking with Jacob Carter.  Sam's father, who was blended with a Tok'ra symbiote named Selmak.  He headed over to them with Sam and Janet following.  Teal'c and Daniel Jackson, the other two members of SG1, had been talking quietly near where the burgers were cooking noticed Jack's movements and drifted over too.  Nodding to Jacob he handed Hammond the DNA chart.  "We have a serious breach," he said by way of greetings.

Hammond looked at the chart and frowned, "Where did you get this?" He asked.

"There are two young women in my living room right now who say we need to talk about this," Jack explained.

"We need to take these young ladies into custody immediately.  What weapons do you have Colonel, or do we need to call for Security Forces from the base."

"I have a handgun; I doubt we'll need anything more than that to take these two into custody."

Jacob cleared his throat, "If we do need more," he said as he reached behind him and pulled a zat out from the small of his back and handed it to Teal'c. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a mini-hand device that he slipped onto his hand.

Jack cocked and eyebrow at the Tok'ra and asked, "You brought a zat and a hand device to my barbeque?"

"Nothing personal Jack, but I don't go to the bathroom without them."

"Okay, here's what we'll do, I'll go in first and get the drop on them, then Teal'c you can come in and secure them."

Teal'c never one for using any more words than necessary just nodded.

"Don't you think we might be over reacting?" Daniel asked.  "There might be an perfectly innocent explanation for this."

Jack looked at him, "If we are over reacting then we'll apologize.  Better safe than sorry," he said as he headed back into the house.

Dawn had finished up her soda and had moved on from the medals to examining the pictures that dotted the walls.  Buffy was staring out the windows, she thought she had seen some movement out there; if it was what, or rather who, she thought it was she and Giles would be having a long talk.  She appreciated that he cared about her, but she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, she was one of the longest-lived Slayers ever right?

She was looking over the magazines that were pilled on the coffee table in the center of the room when Jack O'Neill walked back in.  She was about to ask about his apparent interest in astronomy when she stopped dead, her attention held by the black handgun that Jack was pointing at her.  "All right, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

Buffy frowned, she really hated guns, Dawn was not in the line of fire and knew enough not to get there, deciding to buy time she asked, "What's going on Colonel O'Neill?"

"The chart came from a highly classified project.  I'm afraid that you and your sister are under arrest until we get this straightened out.  If it's a mistake then there's no problem.  If it's not, then we have one.  I advise you not to resist."

Buffy's mind was racing; if Dawn hadn't been here she would probably try to get the gun away from him.  With Dawn here there was no choice.  She was about to agree when a big black man wearing a hat pulled down low on his forehead came into the room holding some kind of snake-headed wand.  He felt…off.  The balding white guy in a sport jacket that came in behind him though set her senses right through the roof.  _"Oh crap,"_ Buffy thought to herself.  "_It was a set up."_

Buffy was still trying to decide what to do when the front door slammed open and a blonde teenager ran into the house, "Jack! You'll never guess what!"

"Cassie! Get out!" O'Neill yelled at the girl.

Just then the two windows that faced the front of the house exploded inward as a redhead and a brunette form crashed through them.

Jack was distracted, first by Cassie, then by the other intruders.  Buffy took advantage of this by grabbing one of the magazines off of the table and frizbeeing it at Jack.  The improvised shuriken stuck the gun in Jack's hand and knocked it off target.  Jack turned with the force of the blow and managed to hold onto the gun.

Dawn was diving to the floor to get out of the line of fire.  The two intruders that had come through the window were just rolling to their feet when a bolt of blue energy struck the redhead and she went down.  The man who had set Buffy's spider sense off raised his hand to reveal a round device with three glowing gems, a wave of force came out from it and struck the brunette who was blown back into the wall between the windows and slammed against it hard enough to break bones.  The blonde that had started this skidded into the room.  Buffy was about to dive out of the line of fire herself when she realized that when O'Neill got back around she was going to be about where Buffy was standing now.  She was even wearing a similar coat.  Buffy, not wanting to see an innocent shot, grabbed the girl and threw her into the couch. She landed and screamed with pain. Buffy was just starting to get out of the way herself when Jack made it back around and pulled the trigger.  Buffy felt like someone had punched her in the chest.  She looked down at the new white blouse she was wearing and saw the red spreading around the hole in it. "_I really hate guns,"_ was Buffy's last conscious thought.

"Buffy!"  Dawn screamed as she struggled off the floor and to her sister's side.  She checked Buffy's pulse and was just reaching for her shirt when O'Neill grabbed her and pushed her to the floor trapping both of her wrists in one of his hands.

"Don't move!" He hissed as he tried to contain the struggling teenager, who, he realized in shock, knew more than a little hand-to-hand combat. 

Teal'c meanwhile shot the brunette with his zat and was moving to help his team commander.

Hammond, Sam, and Doc Fraiser were the next into the room.  Janet saw Cassie rolling off of the couch holding her arm, which was canted at a wrong angle.  "She saved me," Cassie said through the pain.  "I would have been the one shot if she hadn't got me out of the way.  You have to save her mom!"  Janet Fraiser altered course from her adopted daughter to the body laying on the floor.

Janet kneeled down beside Buffy and winced when she saw where the bullet had hit.  The hole was about a half inch under Buffy's left breast.

"You Initiative guys are going to be so sorry you started this!"  Dawn was screaming, tears rolling down her face.

Jack jerked at that name, how did she know about that?

Janet had moved to Buffy and ripped her shirt up the front and frowned at what she saw.  The bullet had punched into Buffy and inch below and to the right of her left breast.  Well it hadn't hit the heart or the blonde she was checking would already be dead, but it must of come close. Looking up at her General Hammond she said, "General, we need to get her back to the SGC ASAP.  I need to get in there and see what the damage is."

"We'll take her to the Academy Hospital," he began.

"Sir, the Academy has a great hospital, but they don't treat trauma injuries that often, not like us.  If you want information out of her, she's going to need all the help she can get."

Hammond nodded and using his phone called for choppers to evac everyone back to the mountain.

O'Neil meanwhile had told Teal'c to go and get a roll of duct tape out of the garage and one of the other people milling around to get a couple of pillow cases out of the linen closet.  Once they brought this stuff back he quickly taped Dawns wrists behind her back and pulling a pillow case over the struggling teenager's head he ran a quick circle of tape around her neck to keep it there.  He then tossed the tape to Teal'c who proceeded to do the same to both of the others.

Teal'c took the time to look both of the girls over.  Both were on the short side.  One with red hair cut in a pageboy style; the other had shorter cropped brunette hair except for a single long, thin, braid down the side of her head.  Teal'c, a Star Wars fan, recognized it, a Padawan Braid.

The helicopters arrived from the base in record time.  Janet grabbed the trauma kit and began to work on Buffy as soon as the gurney arrived.  Dawn and the two unconsciouses would be rescuers were hustled out into the other chopper.  Jack motioned for SG1 to follow. Hammond motioned that he would come in with Janet Fraiser and the elder Summers.

They had been in the air about five minutes when the two girls came to almost simultaneously.  They immediately started pulling on the tape.  Teal'c was raising the zat again as it looked like they might be able to bust loose..

Dawn leaned forward; Jack saw the pillow case balloon out from in front of her mouth indicating she was yelling something.  Jack shook his head, there was no way anyone could hear anything over the noise of the helicopter, but he was surprised when both of the other prisoners relaxed and sat back in their seats.

Jack had a good idea that they were only playing possum.  He had heard rumors about the Initiative.  He wondered how someone this young could have gotten involved with them.

"Jack?"  Came George Hammond's voice through his headphones.

"Yes Sir?"  Jack replied.

"They have Ms. Summers stabilized and are transporting her now."

"Thank you, Sir," Jack replied.

He leaned up against Dawn and putting his mouth right next to her ear he yelled, "Doc's managed to stabilize your sister and they are transporting her."

Dawn nodded. 

As soon as the chopper landed the girls were hustled out and into the mountain. "Get them down to detention," O'Neill ordered.

Jack waited until they had let themselves be lead away when he turned to his team.

"Are you all right Jack?"  Daniel asked.

"Yeahsureyoubetcha," O'Neill replied.

Turning to Teal'c he said, "T, get down to the armory and pull your staff weapon, I want you standing by Buffy as soon as she gets here."

Teal'c nodded and turned to go.  "And Teal'c,"

"Yes O'Neill?" The Jaffa replied.

"Don't assume anything about Buffy, a bullet to the chest might not inconvenience her much."

Teal'c nodded and entered the mountain.

"Not inconvenience her much?"  Daniel asked.  Turning to Sam he asked, "She wasn't a Goa'uld was she?"

Sam also looking confused shook her head, "I didn't feel anything."

"She's not a Goa'uld, but she might be something else, look we don't have time right now.  Carter?  I want you to hunt up Sergeant Graham Miller.  He was part of the unit that Dawn Summers mentioned.  Tell him you're cleared for Code Omega and find out if he knows any of these kids.  Daniel you're with me."

Carter looked after them and said, "I'm not cleared for Code Omega, whatever that is."

"You are now," drifted out of the tunnel.

Jack lead Daniel down to the conference room and opened up the files that Buffy had given him.  He separated out the charts and graphs and plopped them down in front of Daniel and then started going through the written pages.

Daniel looked at the pile in front of him and looking at Jack said, "Jack?  I'm a linguist, not a geneticist."

Jack looked up from the page he was skimming and said, "You're a lot smarter than me, just look through and see if anything catches your eye."

Daniel sighed a long-suffering sigh and started going through the pages.

The second chopper came into the pad hot.  It no sooner touched down than the doors popped open and a stretcher with Buffy on it was pulled out.  Janet Fraser was next out jogging next to the gurney.  She was concerned.  Buffy's vital signs were a lot more stable than they had any right being.  Janet had become something of an expert when it came to penetrating wounds.  From the angle of the bullet it had to have come close to Buffy's heart. How it had missed the aorta was something she would have to check when she got in.  But there was a lot less blood than there should be from this kind of wound, and with her vitals being so high she had to suspect there was something intervening to keep Buffy alive.  "When we get into OR, before we open her up, I want a full MRI scan of her brain and spinal column."

>  
>

Staff Sergeant Graham Miller was down in the gym shooting hoops.  It was at times like this he missed Riley and Forrest the most.  Riley was still with the Initiative and Forrest was, well….  

Miller had fought the good fight, but after two years he had seen that they were never going to win this war.  He still went through the motions, but it was clear to everyone in his squad what he was doing, which also meant that it was only a matter of time until something got lucky. 

Riley had managed to swing an extended leave for him, but time to think had just driven home what he had realized in the jungles.  He had all but decided to put in for a transfer when a Colonel Harry Mayborne had approached him.  He had an offer.  It seem there was another black-op that had a need for soldiers used to dealing with weird things.  Col. Mayborne had offered to expedite a transfer to this group.  He explained that while there were good people involved with it, they weren't prepared to do what needed to be done to safeguard the United States.

Miller had agreed and had been recruited into the SGC.  After Sunnydale, their entrance tests hadn't really been much of a challenge, and he soon found himself on an SGC team.  Right from the start it had been different.  They were exploring as much anything else; it wasn't simply the kill, kill, kill that had been the last two years with the Initiative.  He had been on a team for three months when Mayborne had shown up one day and instructed him to start paying attention to what went on in the SGC and to report irregularities to him.

He'd been happy to see Mayborne, who had been very supportive during his whole probationary period.  As soon as he had explained what he wanted him to do, Graham had been back in Sunnydale. Graham had agreed to do it and gotten out of there.    It hadn't taken him ten seconds to decide what he had to do.  Miller had talked to Colonel O'Neill as soon as he could without arousing suspicion.  The Colonel had told him to relax and to go along with the con and that he would take care of it.  Miller had gone over in his mind what he would tell Mayborne the next time he was contacted, but he never was.  Miller had fully expected to be disappeared, but nothing had ever come of it.  He'd half convinced himself that it had been another loyalty test, but his gut told him it hadn't been.  It still bothered him during the quiet times, like now.

"Excuse me, Sergeant?"  Came a voice from the entrance of the gym.

Miller let the ball bounce and faced the speaker.  "What can I do for you Capt…er.. Major?"

"You were part of a group called the Initiative?"

Miller frowned, as far as he knew the only people on base that were cleared for that answer were The general and Col. O'Neill.  "I'm sorry ma'am, I can't answer that."

"Colonel O'Neill said to tell you I now have Code Omega clearance."

_Since when? _Miller thought. But he trusted Col. O'Neill like no other officer he had ever served with, except maybe Riley, so…  "Yes ma'am, I was part of that unit before I came to the SGC."

"While you were with them did you ever run into a Buffy or Dawn Summers?"

As soon as she said Buffy the Major had his complete attention.  It wasn't that common of a name.  "May I ask the Major how she came across those names?"

"They showed up at the party at Colonel O'Neill's house with some of the Colonel's medical records so we took them into custody."

Graham looked shocked, and shaking his head he couldn't keep a smile off of his face, "May I ask how many people it took to 'take' Buffy into custody?"

"Just one. Colonel O'Neill shot her," Carter said to the sergeant, trying to figure out what was so funny.

The smile was swept off of his face, "How bad?"

"She was shot in the chest, Doctor Fraiser is working on her now."

"Was anybody with her besides Dawn?"

Carter was getting annoyed; she still hadn't got a straight answer from the man, "Two, a red head and a brunette female."

If anything Graham actually went paler, "I need to get down to the stockade ASAP Major and explain this was a mistake."  Miller started hurrying out of the gym.

"Sergeant, wait right there.  You obviously know these girls, Colonel O'Neill wants to talk to you, and they aren't going anywhere."

Sergeant Miller didn't even slow down, looking over his shoulder he said, "Major, if they are still a cell its because they've decided to stay there for now.  I have to get down there before they decided they want a change in scenery."

"Sergeant, they're three young women, I doubt they're going to be able to get out of their cells."

Miller stopped and turning around to give the Major his full attention said, "Major, for all intents and purposes we have quite innocently locked up a fully equipped System Lord and her First Prime in a plain ordinary cell."

Janet looked at the monitor of the MRI scan of Buffy's head.  "I can't see any signs of a symbiote."

"Concur," Captain Stephan Brodkis her chief assistant replied.

"Okay, lets get her open," Janet said as she turned away from the screen.  The X-ray tech came in and attached three x-rays to the light board at the end of the operating table.  Janet saw there were three main fragments of the bullet.  All of them appearing to be lodged along the spinal column, she frowned, unless Buffy was extremely lucky there was likely to be nerve damage or partial paralysis. 

"I can't figure out how it missed the aorta," Captain Stephen Brodkis, Janet's assistant stated.

Looking at the picture Janet had to agree.  But it obviously missed or Buffy would have died on the floor of Jack's living room.

"Okay lets get her open, we'll spread the ribs to give access to fragments.

Janet selected a scalpel and began.  After she had made her primary cut, Brodkis inserted the rib spreader and started to twist.  He grunted and grabbing the end of the instrument with both hands twisted the handle for all he was worth.

"What's wrong?"  Janet asked.

"Never come across ribs this strong before," He replied through clenched teeth.

After getting some help they managed to get the ribs far enough apart so Janet could get into survey the damage.  She started going after the first fragment when she stopped and a low curse escaped her mouth.  "Steve?  Give me a suture kit with fine silk ASAP."

Not asking questions he handed the requested item over.  "Take a look at the left side of the aorta and tell me I'm not seeing what I think I'm seeing."

Steve looked into Buffy's chest and seeing what had caught the Doc's attention said, "That's impossible, arteries don't have the musculature to do that."

What they had both seen was that the bullet had not, in fact, missed Buffy's aorta, it had taken a small nick out of the side of the blood vessel.  But the lips of the tear were pursed together holding the blood in when it should have been spraying all over Buffy's chest cavity.

"Lets get it sewed up before it decides to agree with you," Janet replied as she went to work.  In five minutes she was done. Exchanging the suture needle for her forceps again she started to go back after the first fragment when Buffy twitched.  Janet managed to withdraw the forceps before any damage was done.  Looking at her anesthesiologist she asked, "What was that?  I thought you said she was under?"

"She was Doctor Fraiser, but as soon as you finished suturing her vitals started increasing.  I've increased the anesthesia but I've only slowed the raise toward consciousness, and I'm at max."

Janet Fraiser considered, if she was in and Buffy started twitching she could do more damage than the bullet.  But, if she left the fragments in there Buffy moving could cause them to drift and accomplish the same thing.  "Get me General Hammond," she ordered. Maybe he'd been able to find out something that would help.

Jack and Daniel sat quietly as they went through file that Buffy had on her.  Daniel had picked up some basic ability to read genetics charts and what he was seeing was worrying.  He didn't know enough to confirm what he was looking at and there was no way he was going to bring it to Jacks attention before he was sure.  Jack suddenly cursed, and throwing the paper he was reading onto the table, took off at a run. 

Daniel grabbed the paper and a quick scan revealed what he had been afraid of and he took off after his friend calling, "Jack, wait, you couldn't have known!"

Corporal Andrew Dickson was disquieted.  He had been on guard detail for just about everything that the SGC had come across.  Including Goa'uld.  One of the prisoners had just flopped down on the bunk in her cell and stared into space.  She had only moved when Timilson had come in to get some blood for testing.  The three originally not wanted to cooperate, but when Timilson had pointed out that it would allow them to donate for their friend they had acquiesced.   As soon as he had left, she had sat back down on the bunk and resumed staring. 

The other two though, as soon as they were in their cell and the tape on their wrists had been cut loose, had started pacing.  This wasn't all that unusual for prisoners, but they were in perfect sync with each other.  Four paces, turn, four paces back, turn, repeat.  And neither took their eyes off of him.  He had been stared down by the best, but they had nothing on these eyes, eyes that said the only reason he was still breathing was that they had decided to let him draw another breath.  And the worst part was, he believed those eyes.  He couldn't wait till this shift was over.

There was a knock on the door and he saw Major Carter and Sergeant Miller standing there, the Major indicated he should open up.  Sliding the card down the scanner he opened the door.

As soon as Dawn saw Graham she came off of the bunk, "You guys are going to be so sorry you started this."

Graham held up his hands in consolatory gesture, "Dawn this is a mistake."

The redhead in the next cell snarled, "You guys made it.  If you think we're going to let you do experiments on us you're in for a shock."

Graham looked at the two girls in surprise and said, "I don't know you."

Dawn smirked, "Graham Miller, meet Vi and Carmen."

Graham caught the single first names and asked, "I though there were only two of them?"

Dawn eyes were hard when she said, "That was your first mistake.  You need to keep up with the current news."

"Dawn, I'm not with the Initiative anymore, so could you cut me some slack?  You know how security works. When I talk to Riley or Sam they don't talk about what they are doing, and I don't talk about what I'm doing."

"What do you do here?"  Dawn asked.

"That's classified."  Major Carter said in a firm tone.

"Look Dawn, this is a set up, whether it was one of your enemies or one of ours I don't know," Graham looked up at Vi and Carmen, "I guess there's a lot more where they came from eh?"

"That's classified," Dawn, replied, managing to mimic Sam's tone of voice exactly.

 "Dawn if it comes to a showdown between the Slayers and Stargate Command, Earth loses. We don't have the resources to take up the slack for you guys and you can't fill in for us.  Please, tell me how to call the attack off."

Samantha Carter was going to have words with Sergeant Miller when they got out in the hall.  There was no reason to mention their name, plus she was tired of being a third wheel in this conversation.  Only Graham Millers intensity kept her from dragging him out into the hall to find out what was going on as is.  But, she was loosing patience; she'd give him five more minutes.

Dawn studied the two on the other side of the bars.  The blonde obviously didn't know what was going on, or rather exactly what she was in the presence of.  No one could be that calm knowing there where a pair of angry Slayers and the only thing separating you from them was a couple of three-quarter inch steel bars.  The couple of times she had met Graham she had liked him.  She knew that Riley had trusted him, and she trusted Riley.

"On my cell-phone, speed-dial two,  when it picks up type in four-two-six-six-nine.  That will give you Giles, after that you are on your own."

"Thanks Dawn, I'll see what I can do to spring you." He turned to leave.  As he was walking out the door he turned back and looking at Vi and Carmen he said, "And thank you ladies for not wrecking the cells."

Once outside he turned to Major Carter and said, "I'm sorry for being so high-handed in there Major, but we needed that information and I couldn't take time for explanations."

Carter was slightly mollified, "Okay Sergeant, fill me in on the way to General Hammond's office.  Starting with what did you mean about innocently locking up a System Lord, and where you serious about those two not wrecking the cell?"

"Major, can I wait to explain this to the General?  I kind of only want to do this once."

Gary Timilison, the SGC's medical tech, was washing his hands as Colonel O'Neil came charging into his lab.

"Can you do a paternity test with this stuff?" He asked, waving his hands around to indicate the equipment.

"Sure," the tech replied.

"How long would it take?"

"About ten minutes. It wouldn't stand up in court, but I could give you a yes or no."

"Do it," O'Neil said as he rolled up his sleeve.

"On you?"

"Yes," O'Neil retorted.  "Me and Buffy Summers."

Timilson gulped.  "Okay Colonel." He reached and pulled out a cotton swab. "But I only need some saliva."

Dr. Jackson came jogging into the room just as Timilson took the swab.  "Jack, it might all be a trick," he tried.

"Which is why I'm having a paternity test done, Daniel," he said with a quiet intensity that scared Daniel.

Major Paul 'Disaster' Davis was trying to get some paperwork done while he waited for information on Buffy or Dawn Summers to get back to him. 

"Did you put up a request for info on Buffy and Dawn Summers?"

Paul turned and found another of the liaisons to black projects, Major Carl Decker standing in his doorway with an odd expression on his face, half apprehension, and half stark terror.  "Yeah?"

"Why?"

"Buffy and Dawn Summers as well as two others were taken into custody at my project."

"Let them all go," Major Decker replied.

"It's not that simply, the Summers sisters had in their possession classified documents from our project.  We need to find out how they got them."

"No, you don't."

"Do these two work for you?"  Paul asked.

Carl snorted, "No, and thank God for that.  But, they are in the same line of work as my guys.  I've had dealings with them.  You're better off just ignoring them and letting them go."

Paul shook his head again, "That's not going to happen.  Buffy Summers is in surgery right now, she was shot during her apprehension."

Paul thought that Carl might be going to vomit, "How bad?"

"Our Doc is working on her now, if anyone can pull her through it will be her."

Major Decker grabbed his cell phone and hit a button, lifting it to his mouth he said, "It's Major Decker sir.  Authentification  code Sierra, November, Papa.  Sir, I am declaring a Code Omega, Case Zulu effective immediately.  Buffy Summers has been shot at what ever project Major Davis is liaising for.  Yes sir, I'm with Major Davis right now."

Paul's phone started ringing. "Davis," he said into the receiver.  "Yes sir," he replied to  General Reynolds, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and punched the phone onto speaker.

"Major Davis, before we go any farther, I need you to look up a Code Omega, Case Zulu for me."

Paul did as instructed and could only stare at the screen.  It basically said that General Hammond was saluting Major Decker now.

"Major Davis, give Major Decker a brief overview of the SGC and then listen to what he says."

"Yes Sir," Davis answered.  Turning to the other Major and began, "SGC stands for Stargate Command…."

General George Hammond was on the phone saying, "Just do what you can Doctor," when Graham Miller knocked on his door.  He glanced up annoyed, usually general officers where not disturbed when on the phone by a sergeant's in PT gear.

"Just a minute Doctor Fraiser. Yes, Sergeant?"

"Sir, I'm sorry to disturb you, but we have a very serious situation here and I need access to Dawn Summers cell phone to attempt to defuse it."

"How serious are you talking about?"

"I would recommend evacuating everyone but emergency personal.  How much do you know about the unit I used to belong to?"

"Very little beyond what you dealt with."

"I met the Summers sisters in Sunnydale sir, Buffy Summers is the only reason that I'm standing here.  Her friends out there are going to come and get her if I don't stop them."

"Are you saying we couldn't stop them?"

"Maybe, but no matter if we do or don't Earth, looses."

Carter who had been standing in the background finally had enough, "I'd like you to explain that Sergeant."

Graham turned to the Major, "Buffy and the two girls down in the cells are what's called a Vampire Slayer, Ma'am.  They are physically stronger, have better reflexes and rapid healing.  You have to see a slayer in operation to really understand how dangerous they are.  I wouldn't bet against either of the girls in detention against Teal'c hand-to-hand. I don't know how many more are out there, but her friends are gathering them right now and will be on their way as soon as they are ready."

"I doubt they could force entrance into the base," Carter argued.

"Except I know they have at least one witch with them, they might not have to come in the front door."

"Witch?  As in flying on a broomstick, turn you into a frog, witch?"  Carter asked in a disbelieving voice.

Hammond answered, "Yes Major, that kind of a witch.  Sergeant, I was given to believe that the kind of power is extremely rare."

"It is sir, but Willow is the exception.  I wouldn't put anything past her, especially if a loved one has been hurt."

Hammond nodded and opening a drawer in his desk he handed Graham the plastic evidence bag that had Dawn's stuff in it.  He opened it and grabbed her cell phone.  He plugged in the numbers Dawn had given him.  It ran twice when he heard, "Dawn, thank God, what happened?"  Graham recognized Rupert Giles voice.

" This is Graham Miller, I'm sorry Mr. Giles, there seems to have been an misunderstanding on our end."

"I wish to speak to either Buffy or Dawn, now," Giles said in hard voice, despite the phrasing of the sentence Graham recognized it wasn't a request.

"That isn't possible right now, Dawn and the Slayers with her are in detention, I'll try and get them out as soon as I hang up, but you have to hold off the rescue, as soon as I explain things I'm sure we'll get this straightened up."

"If Dawn is in detention, where's Buffy."

"She was shot when they were apprehended," Graham said.

"How bad is she injured?"

Carefully, Graham replied, "She's in surgery right now, our Doc is good, she'll pull her through.

Graham noticed that Hammond was trying to get his attention.

"Just a minute Mr. Giles," He replied, the silence on the other end of the line was unnerving.

"Dr. Fraiser tells me that Ms. Summers is fighting off the anesthesia and with the location of the bullet fragments she's afraid she'll do more harm than good unless Ms. Summers is fully under, is there anything they can do to help?"

"Mr. Giles?"

"I'm here," came the reply, in a deadly low voice.

"Buffy is fighting off the anesthesia and our doctor is afraid to go after the bullet with out her being fully under, is there anything you can do to help?"

"We'll be at your front gate in fifteen minutes," The line went dead.

Timmilson checked the results twice before turning to O'Neill and Daniel and started, "I'm sorry Colonel, but she is your…,"  He never finished because Jack turned and almost ran out of the lab.  Daniel thanked the tech and then hurried after his friend.

"Jack," he called, "You couldn't have known!"

O'Neill turned, "It was my gun Daniel. AGAIN!"  He then turned and headed for the elevator.

Jackson reached for his cell phone.

Hammond turned, "Major, I want you to head up to the gate and escort Ms. Summers' associates down, Sgt Miller, Go with her."

He then picked up the phone and punched in a code, "This is Hammond, Major Carter is on her way up.  The elevators she rides in are to be held at the top for her."

Just as Carter and Miller were walking out of his office Carter's cellphone went off, "Yes?"  She answered.  She listened for a second and went pale, "Thanks, Daniel."

Looking at the two men she said, "That was Daniel, Buffy Summers is Jack's daughter."

Hammond looked grave, "Go Major, Sgt Miller and I will go and meet Buffy's people."

"Sir, we really should spring Dawn and the Slayers first," Miller suggested.

Hammond nodded.  He grabbed his phone and dialed an extension, "Colonel?  Go down to detention and get Ms. Summers and her companions out.  Then bring them either to the briefing room, or if they wish, the observatory for the operating theater.  Make sure they have everything they need.  Thank you Colonel," hanging up he turned to Miller and said, "Let's go."

As soon as Graham and the blonde Major had left Dawn had flopped back down on her bed and the two Slayers had recommenced to pacing.  "Would you two sit down?"  Dawn called,  "You are giving me a headache."

Corporal Dickson was surprised when they did, they didn't stop staring at him though.  "And quit freaking out the sentry, it's not his fault we're here."  He was even more surprised when they followed that order too.

Dawn stared at the bottom of the bunk above her.  She wanted to hate Graham, the military, and most especially Jack O'Neill, but going over what had happened had made her realize that this wasn't really anyone's fault.  She might as well blame Vi and Carmen for crashing into the room as Jack O'Neill for pulling the trigger.  Even how they had reacted was understandable. She could just imagine what would have happened if someone had shown up either in London or Cleveland and started asking questions about the Key, then had asked if he could talk to her. They would be lucky if they survived long enough to get to a doctor.  It didn't help her mood any though.

About ten minutes later there was a knock on the door.  The Dickson looked out the window in the door then opened the door.  A tall man with thinning red hair and two others came in the room, "Let them out," the tall man told Dickson.  As the guard hurried to carry out the order he turned to Dawn and said, "I'm Lt. Colonel Ferritti, this is Warren and Griff," he said nodding to the other two with him, "Ladies, I'm to take you either to the briefing room, or the observation room for the Operating Theater, the choice is yours."

Dawn answered for the other two as she stepped out of the cell, "Take us to the operating room."

The ride to the surface was fairly quick.  When they reached the top Hammond turned to the guard on duty and said, "Sergeant, this elevator is to be held until my return.  I don't care if the President of the United States comes down this hallway and wants to use it, it stays here, do you understand?"  The tone in his voice made it clear that if the elevator wasn't waiting for the General when he returned, the Sentry's next duty station would make McMurdo Station in Antarctica look like a tropical paradise.

The General's car and driver was waiting for them at the top and they raced to the front gates.  They had just climbed out of the jeep when there was a flash of light on the other side of the gate.  When they had blinked the flash out of their eyes they found themselves facing middle aged man holding a small wooden box, and six young women.  The gate guards could only stare at these people who had just appeared before them right out of thin air.

"Mr. Giles?  I'm General George Hammond, I'm the commander here."

"General, the introductions can wait, I doubt Buffy can," came the hostile reply.

"This way then," General Hammond said, indicating that the gate should be lifted and the new arrivals should be allowed in.

Down in the observation area Carter had just arrived to find Jack sitting on the bench at the far end of the room looking down into the operating theater.  He had his hands clenched together and was lightly tapping his thumbs against his chin while he stared down into the room where Janet Fraiser and her staff were helplessly standing around watching his daughters vital signs slowly creep up toward consciousness.  Janet had ordered Buffy to be strapped to the table, but she couldn't completely immobilize her. Daniel was sitting beside his friend, offering what comfort he could.  Carter was trying to find something comforting to say when the door opened behind her and Dawn and the other ex-prisoners were shown in.

Carter shuffled down to give the new comers room.  The red-head, Vi, Carter thought her name was snarled, "What's he doing here?  Making sure he did it right?"

Carter was about to retort when surprisingly, Dawn Summers whirled on her companion and snarled, "You know, you had as much to do with Buffy getting shot as he did."  Nodding toward Jack, "If you two hadn't come crashing in we might have been able to defuse the situation.  And before you say he overreacted, ask yourself how we'd react if someone showed up asking about Slayers then asked to see Buffy!"  So saying she turned and walked over to Jack.  Daniel saw her coming and hastily got up to give her room.  Jack for his part was staring in shock, he hadn't been expecting, nor did he think he deserved, to be defended from this quarter. 

Dawn sat down next to him and said quietly, "She's been hurt worse than this; she'll pull through."

The elevator was waiting for them.

Once on their way down Willow turned to Graham and asked, "What happened?"  Hammond started to answer and Willow snapped at him, "I wasn't asking you."  Hammond shut up; the quiet intensity of this young redhead scared him.

"I wasn't there Willow, the General was though," Miller answered.  Every Scooby eye turned toward the stocky Texan.

Taking the glares as permission to speak he began, "Ms. Summers and her sister showed up at a barbeque we were having.  The files they had were from our program, perhaps the most classified project in the US Military.  I ordered Colonel O'Neill to take them into custody."

"So he just up and shot her?"  an oriental girl in the back growled.

"Colonel O'Neill was covering them when the daughter of our Chief Medical Officer rushed in through the door.  Almost simultaneously, two other young women came through the windows.  Ms. Summers tried to disarm the Colonel and when she realized that Cassie would still be in the line of fire when Jack recovered, she pushed Cassie to safety ,but was shot when Jack turned back around."

Willow narrowed her eyes, "You and Jack O'Neill better pray that she's able to confirm your version of events."

Major Davis was still trying to digest what Decker had told him after he had briefed him in on Stargate Command.  His ringing phone distracted him and he picked it up almost unconsciously, "Hello?…. Yes this is Major Davis," Recognition seeped through, "Er yes Mister President, what can I do for you?"  He listened for a couple of minutes and began, "Well sir, it started when Ms. Summers showed up at Colonel O'Neill's front door…."  He went on to give a clear and concise summary of events.

"Listen to me very carefully Major," POTUS said, "I want every courtesy extended to these peoples, no pissing about security, we've already made enough of a mess of this, we cannot afford to alienate The Council further.  Am I clear?"

"As crystal sir."

The President signed off, and Davis began dialing Cheyenne Mountain.

The door into the observatory opened again and Dawn saw Graham leading Willow, Kennedy and three other Slayers into the room.  An older man with two stars on his shoulder boards was bringing up the rear.

Dawn took one look at Willows face and placed herself between O'Neill and the incensed witch.  "Willow, it was an accident."

Willow's eyes tracked onto the younger Summers and she didn't have to say, "Oh come on!"

"Alright, not exactly and accident, but it was all a misunderstanding.  They thought we were spies or something."

Willow didn't say anything; she just took a seat and gazed out into the operating room.  Kennedy took her hand and held it tight.  Dawn sat back down next to Jack and captured his.  He started, but didn't try pull away.

Janet Frazier was about to go in after the fragments, despite the risks, when the word was passed to her that the man she was waiting for was in pre-op getting scrubbed up.  She was about to stick her head in to see what was keeping him when the doors swung open and a tall man with spectacles perched above his mask entered the room.  In his right hand he held an old fashion glass syringe filled with a yellow fluid.

"This drug will temporarily suppress the Slayer in Buffy," he began in an English accent.

"I need to know what's in it," Janet replied, placing herself between Giles and her patient.

"It's a mixture of muscle relaxants and adrenal suppressants. There are some other ingredients, but as long as you are using standard anesthetics there will be no conflict."

Janet was torn, medically it would be the height of irresponsibility to allow Buffy to be injected with an unknown drug, but her instinct said that this was her only chance not to hack up the young woman more than she was.  "Use the IV hooked into her arm,"  she told him.

Giles shook his head, "It must be injected directly into a vein."

Fraiser nodded and let him approach.

He wrapped a piece of medical tubing around her upper arm to find a vein, "Once I inject her, it will take five minutes for the drug to take effect, after that you will have ten minutes to do what ever you need to do. Then  you will have perhaps three, maybe as much as five minutes of partial effects."

"Please wait then before you inject her then, lets make sure what we are going to do."  Giles nodded and waited.

Janet huddled with her team and they quickly decided that they would go after the second fragment first, then the third; finally if they had the time they would go after number one.  Janet then nodded to Giles. He inserted the needle and pushed the plunger.  One of the nurses started a timer. 

When the timer hit one minute an alarm sounded, "Unscheduled off world activation," a voice said over the PA system.  Hammond frowned and started for the wall phone, before he reached it though the same voice came over the loud speakers in a much more excited tone, "Iris failure," Almost immediately followed by, "Jaffa in the gate room, Jaffa in the gate room!  Foothold! Foothold! Foothold!"

The SGC people in the observatory bolted.  If it wasn't for Slayer reflexes they, as well Dawn and Willow might have been trampled.  Kennedy grabbed Willow out of the way and one of the newcomers grabbed Dawn.  As O'Neill exited the room he called, "Daniel, stay here with them!"

"What's going on?"  Willow asked.

"That's a little complicated," Daniel began.

"Simplify it," Willow ordered, making it very clear by her tone of voice she was at the end of her patience. 

"We are being invaded," Daniel explained.  "Right now alien soldiers are invading the base.  If we can't stop them then General Hammond will use our self destruct device."

"Are they at the strange disturbance I'm feeling?"

"Is it coming from that way?"  Daniel asked, pointing with his finger.

Willow nodded and Daniel nodded back.

"We'll handle it," She stated flatly.  She raised her hands, and in a flash of light she, and the Slayers vanished.

Hammond arrived in the Control Room with Carter and O'Neill on his heels.  The blast shields were down over the windows, but the monitors were showing the inside of the gate room, where over thirty Jaffa were taking up defensive positions.  He could see the still bodies of the Marines that had made it into the gate room before the doors closed.   Srgt Walter Davis, who was Gate Controller this shift, had told him that the first thing through the gate had been a bunch of shock grenades, so hopefully most, if not all of the men down were unconscious, not dead. 

The gate rippled again and a tall figure in gold armor stepped through with four large Jaffa backing him.  "I am Hephaestus.  I claim this world! Bow before your God!" He said in the hollow voice that all Goa'ulds used.

Hammond activated the microphone into the Gate Room, "This world is a member of The Protected Planets Treaty of the Asgard, if you attack us, they will respond."

Hephaestus laughed, "The Asgard are weak.  If they could stop the Goa'uld they would have smashed us centuries ago.  This attack will prove this and elevate me to supreme leader of the Goa'uld.  Bow or die."

Hammond took a key from around his neck and was about to open the cover over the Self-Destruct Button when the air shimmered in the Gate Room and Willow Rosenberg and almost a dozen other young women appeared.  Willow looked around at all of the people pointing weapons at her and said, "I've had a very bad day and I am feeling really cranky.  I'll give you all one chance to turn around and leave."

"The mighty Tau'ri send children to repel me? Female children at that," he snorted in contempt.  "If you acknowledge me as your God and bow, I will spare your lives."

Willow gave a short laugh, "You? A God?  Please, I've met real Gods, I'm closer to one than you will ever be."

"Die," Hesphaetus said as he raised his hand and sent a wave of force toward Willow.

Willow got her hand up and said, "Thicken."  The force bolt hit the air in front of Willow and it stopped, ripples spread out from the point of impact.

"Jaffa! Kree!" Hesphaestus bellowed, and the Gate Room dissolved into chaos.

Giles started as the alarms went off. When the call 'Foothold' came over the PA system he saw several of the people starting to sweat.  "Alright people," Dr. Fraiser said, "We have a job to do; so lets concentrate and do it."

"Ma'am?  What about the self-destruct?" One of the assistants asked.

"If it goes off, we'll never feel it.  If it doesn't we have one shot at getting this right," the doctor replied.  As the timer hit zero Janet leaned over the wounded Slayer again and went after the first fragment.

George Hammond saw what Graham Miller had been talking about as the Slayers exploded into action.  Unfortunately, the enclosed environment of the Gateroom was working against them.  It also didn't help that with the Stargate open Jaffa were being added to the fight as fast as they were being taken down.  Willow Rosenberg and Hesphaestus were trading force blasts and lightning bolts, he noticed that her eyes had become black pools with no irises or whites showing.  Suddenly she called, "Kennedy! The yellow handle, pull it!"

The brunette Slayer that had accompanied her down the elevator finished breaking the neck of a Jaffa with a deceptively easy twist of her arms, then leaped to the manual control for the iris.  She grabbed it and pulled, then kept pulling and ripped the handle off of the wall.

"No!"  Hesphestus screamed, as the iris slammed shut.  As soon as it was shut, dull thuds could be heard against it.  He raised his hand and a force bolt caught the Slayer and slammed her against the wall with a sickening thud.

"No!"  Willow screamed as her hair joined her eyes and the lighting bolts she was firing at the Goa'uld intensified.  Unfortunately, it had no more effect against the Goa'uld's shield than any of the previous ones.

"That's the third," Janet said as she plunked the last fragment of bullet into a stainless steel pan, "Let's get her sewed up."

Giles had stood by and watched the diminutive doctor work, he had needed something more than the detachment that Watcher training had given him with Buffy on the table with her chest cavity opened up.   He had been impressed by what he had seen.  Doctor Janet Fraiser had not let the impending nuclear destruction, it was the US Military, any Self-Destruct would have to be nuclear, interfere with the job at hand.  She had been quick and precise with each movement, even now she was careful and meticulous with suturing the incision in Buffy's chest closed.

When the last stitch was closed she turned back to Giles and said, "I got all of the bullet, but there was damage to Buffy's spine, I think there may be some nerve damage."

Giles replied in a relieved tone, "She'll recover Doctor, you'll see."

Willow was at the end of her rope, the multiple intercontinental teleports with multiple people had all but warn her out, and it was down to her vs. this Hephaestus, and he didn't seem to be running out of steam. She could drain power out of the Slayers to try and overwhelm his shield, but she was afraid if she did that she would end up killing them.  There was also a great deal of power coming out of the Ring thing that the bad guys had come through, but she had never encountered anything like it before, so while she was pretty sure she could tap into it, she had no idea if she could control whatever she pulled out of it.  Then an idea occurred to her, she had gotten a pretty quick response when she had done a spell to Hesphaestus on how to shut down the invasion, maybe the answer was there, after all, the Greek Pantheon were always among the most jealous of the Gods.

Hammond looked grave as Willow suddenly sank to her knees her hair returning to its normal red color.  He sighed and started reaching for the button that would start the self-destruct.  "General! Wait!" Carter said excitedly.  "Check out the color monitor."

Doing as Carter had suggested he noticed a soft golden glow seeming to come from the walls.  He'd never seen anything like it.  Looking closer, he realized that the glow was flowing into Willow.  Hesphaestus, must not have been able to see it because of the glow of his shield.  He looked suspiciously at his young advisory when she sank to her knees, he hadn't expected her to capitulate so suddenly.  As she just kneeled there though he smiled.  He flicked off his shield and started down the ramp saying, "Yes, bow before your God, none may stand before the might of Hesphaestus."

Willows raised her head, her eyes were no longer black, instead they had become yellow-white, the color of steel fresh from the forge, "Odd", the voice she spoke in was a deep rumbling baritone, far deeper than anything Willow's throat should have been able to produce. "That was just what I was going to say."    Hephistus quickly brought his shield back up.  Willow simply raised her hand and the shield device exploded.  Lowering her hand back down and Hespistus was driven to his knees, Hammond winced at the impact on the steel grating that made up the ramp.

Willow stood and started toward the kneeling Goa'uld.  She seemed taller, but at the same time she was hunched over, with one shoulder held higher than the other, almost like she had a hump.  She slowly limped around Hesphistus who could only follow her with his eyes.

"Long have my brothers and sisters watched as you usurped our names and followers, but when you left Earth you passed beyond our ability to effect you directly.  Long have we discussed what we would do if one of you ever fell into our hands, I hope you will appreciate what we decided on."  Willow then reached out with her hands, which started glowing yellow white.  Willow's countenance changed  briefly her stance straightened and her eyes dimmed, she said, "Ahem," in a much more normal sounding voice.

"Oh, very well," in the Bass voice again, " I don't see the point though, the Host's mind is shattered and the body will not live long with out the symbiote." She changed the arrangement of her hands slightly.  When the glow faded Willow was grasping a Goa'uld symbiote in her hand.  There was then a flash of golden light and when everyone could see again the symbiote was gone and Willow was back to normal.

"Let's get in there people!"  Hammond barked.  Turning to the Gate Tech he said, "Sergeant, get med teams to the Gate room now!"

Giles sat at his Slayers side, a cup of tea grown cold on the table next to him.  He had sent Dawn to bed a half hour ago, he glanced at the door to the room they had put Buffy in and at the two Slayers that had taken up residence.  Faith had sent down six additional Slayers when she had heard about the causalities from the fight in the Gateroom.  There had been no fatalities among the Slayers that had fought there, but a number of them would be out of action for a couple of days, and Willow had been found collapsed holding the head of the dying host of the Goa'uld in her lap.  She was now in a room down the hall sleeping next to a healing Kennedy.  Daniel Jackson had stopped in earlier to see how Buffy was doing and Giles had an interesting chat with him.  As Daniel was leaving Giles had told him that if Colonel O'Neill wished he could wait down here for Buffy to awaken too.  Dawn had told Giles what had happened at O'Neill's house.  She had also pointed out what would have probably happened to O'Neill if he had shown up in Cleveland asking about the Key.  While he hadn't wanted to, he had been forced to agree with her reasoning. O'Neill had stayed for two hours, they had not really exchanged a civil word between each other, but neither had they exchanged blows.  Giles had told him he was planning on watching Buffy until three am, then Dawn would be taking back over, and that she might like some company.  O'Neill had smiled and told Giles he'd do it. 

Buffy's eyes blinked open.  She looked around trying to figure out where she was.  She smiled though when they alighted on Giles.  "Hey," she said in a weak dry voice.

"Hello Buffy, how are you feeling?"  Giles asked softly.

"Sore, my left arm's numb," she replied, "Also, thirsty."

Giles reached over and held a glass of ice cubes for Buffy to pull a couple into her mouth.  As she savored the cold he said, "Doctor Fraiser believes there was some nerve damage to that side of your body.  Judging by Faith though, you should heal up."

Buffy nodded and sucked on the ice for a couple of minutes, then drifted back to sleep.

Dr. Fraiser came in about ten minutes later and after nodding to Giles started checking the various pieces of monitoring equipment that was hooked to Buffy.  "She was awake a little while ago," Giles told the Doctor.

Turning to him she asked, "Did she say anything?"  It was clear that the diminutive doctor was surprised that Buffy had come to so quickly.

"Just that she was sore, and that her left arm was numb," Giles replied.

Dr. Fraiser frowned,  "I was afraid of that."

"She will heal Doctor," Giles reassured her.

"Nerves don't heal Mr. Giles."

"Slayer nerves do," Giles corrected.

"I hope your right," She replied in a tone that suggested she didn't think, but hoped he was.

"I was impressed by your demeanor in the operating theater," Giles said to change the subject.

"Thank you, but it wasn't so much courage, but rather we've been through it enough times it almost becomes routine."

Giles nodded that he understood, he imagined it was a lot like having at least one apocalypse a year, after the sixth or seventh it was hard to work up the same excitement level. 

Buffy did not awaken again before Dawn came.  Giles told her of Buffy's awakening and that Colonel O'Neill was likely to stop by.  Dawn smiled and took up her watch.  She could tell that the Cindy and Anita, the two Slayers that were on guard duty were not exactly happy by the news, but she was.  She knew she couldn't admit to Jack that she was his daughter too, but she still wanted to get to know him.  Jack arrived about a half hour after she did.  He was in a clean uniform and he came bearing two cups of coffee.  Dawn smiled as she took the one offered and brought him up to date while the sipped.

Jack didn't pass on to Dawn Doc Fraiser's doubts about Buffy recovering fully.  She had pulled no punches on her diagnosis and as much as it hurt, he appreciated it.  They were talking for about ten minutes when, "You have another cup?"  Jack turned toward the bed and found his daughter looking at him through half closed eyes.

"I'm so sorry Buffy," Jack began.

"Not your fault. I should have went quietly and trusted Giles to get everything sorted out.  The bald guy freaked me though."  Buffy explained, "About that cup?"

Jack frowned and looked at the door, clearly considering another trip to the canteen.

"Jack?" Dawn asked in a half serious tone, "You do know what Doctor Fraiser would do to you if you actually got my sister that cup?"

"Traitor," Buffy said in amusement. "I guess water will do."

Dawn poured her a cup and handed her the glass.  Buffy was strong enough to sit up and drink out of it, wincing slightly as she pulled on her stitches.

"Here Buffy," Jack said quickly, "Let me help."  He reached behind Buffy and supported her while she drank. When she finished he laid her back down and then stepped back.

"Thanks," She told him.  Buffy laid back for second, then looked up at him and said, "Hi, I'm Buffy Summers, your daughter."

Jack shook his head; "You could have saved everyone a whole lot of trouble if you'd started that way in the first place."

Jack O'Neill sat in his chair in the cafeteria smiling as he ate his Fruit Loops.  His team placed their trays and sat around the table.  Looking around he saw them all staring at him intently.  "What?" He asked.

The others could tell by his demeanor that Buffy must be doing all right, so, "We were wondering about Buffy?"  Daniel began.

"She's doing good, she woke up a couple times last night and we got to talk some."

"That is indeed good news O'Neill," Teal'c rumbled, "But I think that Daniel Jackson is referring to how you have a child that we have not heard of."

"Hey, its news to me too."  Jack said.  "After talking to Buffy I think I remember her mom, Her name was Joyce.  We met in a bar in LA.  I was on a short break between missions and she had just caught her new hubby in bed with his secretary.  We ended up in a room over night.  The next morning she had felt horrible with what she had done, and had got out of there as quick as she could.  She must have gone home and made up with the hubby either that day or the next, so when Buffy came along she just thought she was her husbands.

Jack went back to his Fruit Loops indicating the subject was closed.  He got two mouthfuls in when he became aware of someone standing next to his table.  Looking up he saw it was Timilson, the med tech, with an odd look on his face.  "Yes?"  He asked in a slightly annoyed voice.

"Uh, Sir, could I have a word with you in private?"  The civilian technician asked.

"Anything you say to me I'll repeat to my team so we might as well skip the middle man Timilson." Jack replied.

"Okay sir," Timilson responding in a, 'I'm not sure this is a good idea' tone.

"During a Foothold my station is my lab," He began.  "During those things I do tests and stuff to take my mind off of pending nuclear destruction."

"That's nice Timilson," Jack said in a get to the point voice.

"Well I was set up to do paternity tests so I started doing them,"

Thinking Timilson didn't get the subtle hint Jack said, "Is there a point to this?"

"Er, Yes sir.  The thing is I did the test three times, I thought I messed it up the first time so I did it again, and then I couldn't believe it, so I did it again. But the results were always the same."

"What results Timilson?"  Jack said in a patient voice that anyone who knew him knew was one step away from a major eruption.

"Dawn Summers is your daughter too."

"That's impossible Timilson" I only met Buffy's mother once!" Jack all but roared, gaining the attention of everyone in the cafeteria.

"I believe you sir," Timilson stammered, "But the test can't be wrong three times."

"You must of mixed up the samples," O'Neil countered.

"I thought of that sir and double checked that.  I didn't," the tech replied.

Jack got up and stormed out of the cafeteria, the rest of SG-1 looked at each other and rushed after their commander and friend.

They caught up with him as he entered the elevator, which was a good thing because he hit the button immediately, and if Daniel were any slower, the closing doors would have caught him.  Jack didn't say anything during the short trip and none of the rest of SG-1 could think of anything to ask.  Daniel was concerned that Jack was just going to storm into Buffy's room, something the Slayer bodyguards would not react kindly too.  But Jack checked himself at the end of the hall and approached the med bay almost sedately.

Jack nodded to the two new Slayers that were standing guard as he approached his daughter's bed.  Dawn was there, as well as Willow.  Buffy was awake and almost smiling.  "Hey, Jack," she said as he came in.

Jack had decided to forgo subtlety on the ride down in the elevator so he just asked, "How can Dawn be my daughter too?"

Jack smiled as he excited the door with a plate of fresh brats and hamburgers to the cheers of the gathered multitude.  It was two months since the last party and there was real reason to celebrate.  As Giles had assured them Buffy had fully recovered.  He could still remember when Dawn had tracked him down and quietly brought him to the gym.  What he had seen made him call down to sickbay and have Janet come up.  By the time she had arrived Buffy was doing some kind of meditative exercise, balancing on one arm, the one that Janet had thought she would never be fully able to use again, while staring into a pile of crystals, as Giles walked around her quietly lecturing.  Dawn had snuck up to the pair and quietly reached for one of the crystals when Buffy said, "Dawn, you knock that pile over again and I will hurt you this time."  Dawn had smiled back at her dad.  Janet had signed Buffy's release papers the same day.

Jack got to the barbeque, put the plate down, and looked the crowd over.  It was a mixed group; members of the SGC and the Council talk and drank together trading war stories.  The President's order had been taken to heart and the beginning of a close working relationship was growing up between the two groups. Glancing around he noticed that Rupert Giles did not seem to be around anywhere.  Looking up Jack spotted him up on his old astronomy platform.

Heading over Jack climbed up, making sure to make a little noise so as to not startle the other man.  Giles glanced over as Jack finished his climb and said, "I'm sorry Colonel O'Neill if I'm intruding here; it was a bit busy downstairs."

Jack nodded and reaching into the fridge he kept next to his telescope, he pulled out a couple of beers.  He popped one open and handed it to Giles, then popped open his own.

Giles accepted his beer, recognizing there was more to the offer than just an adult beverage.  Jack took offered up a toast, "Absent friends."  Which Giles returned and took a swig.

"I want to thank you," Jack began.

"For?"

"Looking out for my girls," Jack replied.

Giles smiled at Jack's words.  The one thing he credited the Air Force Colonel with was he never had any reservation at accepting Dawn as his anymore than Buffy.  Though he did notice that whenever Dawn started talking about languages and such he quickly palmed the younger Summers sister off on Daniel Jackson.

"You do know that Buffy is likely to stay in this area?"  Giles asked.

Jack smiled and nodded.  "The President wants me to try and talk her into the program."

"Will you?"

"Ask her?  Sure.  But that will be the extent.  I've heard some rumors that the NID is interested in her, but the President personally quashed them."

"Yes, I heard the same rumors myself," Giles said.  "I asked the Prime Minister to pass the word."

Jack knew that one of the largest bouquets Buffy had gotten, along with a ton of get well wishes, had come from the Queen.

"So do you think she will do it?"  Jack asked.

Giles nodded almost sadly, "Yes, I think she will."

"All right what are you two up to?"  Buffy's voice came from the top of the ladder.  "There is a party going on down here and where do I find you two?  Up here by yourselves, plotting something!"

"We are just  drinking beer," Jack said defensively. "Want one?"

"Sure," Buffy replied as she climbed up the rest of the way.

"Buffy, do you think a beer is wise?"  Giles said with more than a little hint of teasing in his voice.

"One time! One time in college you go all Cave-Buffy and they never let you forget!"

"Cave-Buffy?"  Jack asked.  "You went all caveman too once?"

Down in the party Dawn and Xander were talking to Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, and Janet.  They were startled by a clear happy sound floating on the night air, Buffy laughing unreservedly.  Looking up they saw the three up on the deck built on top of Jack's garage.  Jack had his hands fisted at waist level and was rocking back-and-forth while he seemed to be making grunting sounds. 

Daniel groaned, "He can't be telling them that story."

"Which story?"  Xander asked.  The stories were fun, and blackmail material was always of the good.

Sam looked concerned, especially when she saw the Colonel measure to the bottom of his ribcage with his hands, then make a slashing motion with his hand to one side, "I think he is."

As Daniel and Carter began to grill the Scoobies for comparable stories, just so they could learn more about the Colonel's new daughter, not because they wanted ammunition to use against her if she ever used what Jack was telling her against them.  Dawn smiled; it felt good to be home.


	2. Chapter 2

It's Easier to Ask…

Disclaimer: They aren't mine. I make no profit on the following.

Senator Robert Kinsey smiled as he entered the chamber. In front of him was a long conference table. Most of it was shrouded in darkness, the exceptions being a chair at his end, which was bathed in the light of a single flood lamp, and three figures outlined in bright lights at the other end. Kinsey advanced confidently into the room, he was followed by two men who were dressed in dark suits and wearing sunglasses. They were pushing an electric pallet jack on which was a metal skid loaded with several layers of neatly stacked silver bars. Kinsey took the lighted seat and the pallet was dropped next to him. The two men placed the jack to the side and then took up positions on either side of the door.

Kinsey spoke first, "Gentlemen, as promised, five hundred pounds of refined naquadah."

"Impressive," the figure on the right said. "I'm curious as to your source."

Kinsey gave a sly smile, "I'd prefer to leave that my secret for now. I'm new to the organization and I'm not sure I can trust you with all of my secrets."

"You mean you don't want to tell us that you still went to Wolfram and Hart after we warned you not to when you first brought them up."

Kingsley shrugged, "I think I proved beyond any argument that they would be a valuable resource in keeping America safe. It took them barely a month to secure this load," he said waving at the bars. "I doubt it would take them much more time to acquire another. Plus anything else we could wish for."

"At the cost of our souls," the center figure growled. "We are well aware what Wolfram and Hart are capable of. They have been trying to infiltrate the Trust almost since our inception. They represent a threat to life on Earth as least as great, arguably greater, than the Goa'uld."

Kinsey paled as sweat beaded on his brow, "I, I, I, didn't know. I'll sever ties with them immediately," he stammered.

"Yes, you will," the central figure agreed.

Behind Kinsey the guard on the right pulled out a silenced automatic pistol from a shoulder holster and shot Robert Kinsey behind the left ear. The bullet exited the other side and sprayed the naquadah bars with gore. What was left of Kinsey slumped onto the table.

"Thank you Peter," the figure on the right said in a conversational voice.

"Paul," the center figure said, "Please remove the mess."

"Yes sir," Paul replied. "What do you wish to do with the naquadah?"

The left figure replied, "Wash it off and put in the vault. After all, waste not, want not."


	3. Just Desserts

Just Desserts

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Mutant Enemy. Stargate belongs to MGM productions. I make no profit other than having a good time

Hephaestus awoke with a start. He was back in a body, and what a body it was. It seemed to be as strong as an unas, but it was even easier to manipulate than a human. He could feel that the body was all but immortal; he would not be tied to a sarcophagus to maintain his life. He forced his new eyes open and stared around to find out where he was located. He blinked; in plain sight were huge mounds of trinium, naquadah, gold and gems just waiting to be gathered. A warm glow suffused his body. The biggest disadvantage he had as a system lord was that all of his systems were very poor in minerals. He had been forced to beg, borrow or steal everything he needed. In truth, his attack on the Tau'ri had been a last act of desperation, he was being pressed by the forces of Bastet and Kali and he saw no other way out of the situation. If he had failed conquering the Tau'ri he would not be any deader than what those two would have done to him. Given the Tau'ri's reputation, it would probably be much quicker too. But now with the raw material present he could recreate his army as it always should have been.

Looking around he saw a number of people approaching, each of the same species as his current host. They were almost seven feet tall and perfectly muscled. They seemed to favor long white blond hair, and were dressed in what appeared to be togas in a variety of colors. He would have to find out if that was just decoration, or some form of uniform. They moved with an oiled smoothness that told Hephaestus that even if they had no combat training now, he would be able to turn them into Jaffa that Apophis would weep over as they destroyed his Serpent Guard. Hundreds of them approached, each bearing a tray that bore either food or drink. They seemed to be very obedient too. It would make creating his army that much easier.

"Majesty," A beautiful female of the species asked as she offered a tray with what looked like a goblet of wine on it, "Do you have any orders for the day?"

Hephaestus took the cup off of the try and drank a celebratory swallow, his rise to supreme system lord was about to begin. He started to stand up to proclaim his divinity and to get his new slaves started on building his army and navy, but he went nowhere. His host did not respond to his order. He started to panic at his inability to control the host when a voice spoke in his head, "Where exactly do you think you are going? I'm comfortable right here, and here is where we are staying. I've earned this rest, and I'm going to get it for the next couple of millennia or so. You want food or drink, feel free. But other than that, we're staying right here!"

Hephaestus tried to break the hold and take control of the host, but the problem was that whoever was speaking was inside him and hooked into his brain, much as he was in this king's body. The goblet that he had held so triumphantly a moment before slipped out of his hand. But that was okay, his rider simply waved with the other and he could only watch as whoever had control of him manipulated the body they both shared to get another one.

Hephaestus could only scream in the silence of his own mind.


End file.
